The World I Know (original) (raw)
This is one of three poems that I wrote simultaneously on April 8, 1999. It appeared with one of its siblings, �The Land of Eyes,� in a now defunct small literary magazine called Mind In Motion, which was very thoughtfully edited and arranged by C�leste Goyer. The third poem, �Dear Melissa,� has yet to be published and currently resides in a binder.
When I say I wrote three poems simultaneously, I mean that I really did switch back and forth between them, adding a little to each until they were done. This wasn�t something I set out to do. Rather, something in each seemed to move the others forward. Yet they are separate entities, and not merely an overlapping conglomeration of thoughts that should have been distilled into one poem, or sorted out and saved for another day. Had that been the case, I would have gladly accepted the situation, and would have done what needed to be done.
The World I Know
The world I know
is not like your world.
We bind our children
with fear,
then we teach them
to believe in reason.
What dreams they have
we selfishly ignore,
until they wither
and die of hunger
like fallen baby birds.
Your crazy spirits
that bloom like flowers
would not survive here.
Your winged thoughts
would beat against
our prison walls,
then die slowly of regret.
You are seekers of light,
we are followers of death.
We search diligently
for an end
in everything we do,
while for you
everything is a beginning.
The world I know
is not like your world.
We are too arrogant
to celebrate life.
Instead,
we imprison beauty,
hide truth,
deny love,
and wage war
against ourselves.
The world I know
is not like your world.
You would suffer here.
Still,
I�m glad you�ve come.
If you decide to stay,
maybe our world
will be more like yours.
Note: Poems, Slightly Used, a growing collection of work first published in my blog, Recently Banned Literature, can be found here.
POETRY COLLECTIONS IN PRINT
Available from Cosmopsis Books of San Francisco Winter Poems
by William Michaelian
ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4
US 11.95;∗∗11.95; 11.95;∗∗8.95 at Cosmopsis Books
52 pages. 6x9. Paper.
Includes one drawing.
San Francisco, June 2007
Signed, numbered & illustrated copies Winter Poems displays the skills and abilities of Mr. Michaelian at their most elemental level, at the bone. Wandering amidst a barren world, a world scraped bare, he plucks the full moon like fruit from the winter sky, goes mad and befriends a pack of hungry wolves, burns his poems to keep warm. He is a flake of snow, a frozen old man, a spider spinning winter webs. Spring is only a vague notion of a waiting vineyard, crocuses, and ten-thousand babies. The author is alone, musing, reflecting, at times participating. But not quite alone, for he brings the lucky reader along. I�ve been there, to this winter world, and I plan to go back.
� John Berbrich, Barbaric Yawp
Another Song I Know � Short Poems
by William Michaelian
ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1
US 13.95;∗∗13.95; 13.95;∗∗10.95 at Cosmopsis Books
80 pages. 6x9. Paper.
Includes Author�s Note.
San Francisco, June 2007
Signed, numbered & illustrated copies Another Song I Know is a delightful collection of brief, resilient poems. Reading them, one by one by one, is like taking a walk through our common everyday world and suddenly hearing what the poet hears: the leaves, a coffee cup, chairs � and yes, even people, singing their songs of wisdom, sweetness, and light.
� Tom Koontz, Barnwood poetry magazine
Also by William Michaelian POETRY
Winter Poems
ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4
52 pages. Paper.
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Another Song I Know
ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1
80 pages. Paper.
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